A cross Roy Lichtenstein’s prolific and revolutionary artistic career, as a titan of the Twentieth Century, one essential concern has defined the heart of his practice: art itself. From the outset of his career, Lichtenstein sought to explore the form, content, meaning and future of artistic production in contemporary society. Lichtenstein grappled with changing attitudes towards artistic expression and value, contending with canonical art historical imagery and modern day consumer culture through his distinctive visual vernacular. The vanguard of Pop, Lichtenstein was an iconic and unparalleled force in the development of Contemporary art, advancing his ultimate conceptual project: art about art. This May, Sotheby’s will offer more than 40 works from the Collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein in our Contemporary Evening and Day Auctions, all of which explore this essential truth of his iconic practice.

Lichtenstein deconstructed the arbitrary boundaries between “high” and “low,” situating the art historical canon in dialogue with contemporary consumer media through an innovative and instantly recognizable visual lexicon. Utilizing the representational techniques and codes associated with mass production and comic books, such as flat planes of color, repeated dots to indicate shading, and bold contour lines, Lichtenstein redefined the language of representation in fine art. From the earliest years of his practice, he was guided by a fascination with art about art, reflecting upon its means of production, its purpose in modern culture, and how its history informs its future. From iconic subjects and genres like the female nude and still life, to the formal concerns of ancient Greek architecture, Surrealism, German Expressionism, and the Ab Ex artists, and to the immortal paintings of art history’s giants like Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Morris Louis, and many others, Lichtenstein invented through imitation. Today, his Ben-Day dots and comic-like aesthetic have become synonymous with Pop, coming to define the genre and the innovations of post-war Contemporary art more broadly.

Roy’s Lichtensteins: Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein is an exquisite trove of paintings, collages, sculptures, drawings, and prints, representing four decades of artistic development. This superlative capsule of works showcases the breadth and depth of Lichtenstein’s oeuvre. In these works, we see Lichtenstein’s fascinating discourse with Picasso’s Cubism, the illusions of Surrealism, Monet’s water lilies, and the architecture of ancient Greece. And, in these works, we also see the artist’s mastery across media as a painter, draftsman, and sculptor, ceaselessly innovating and expanding his practice.